The Guardian
by purpledragon6
Summary: My AU version of the Unblinking Eye, where two unlikely people are forced to join forces when the same enemy threatens both of their lives. Rated T for blood and minor language. No pairings and has been re-done.
1. The Set-Up

**A/N: Laugh at my misery as I go through all of these chapters and look back and think 'what the hell was I thinking?'. Anyway Zak's POV.**

**Reminder: This is an AU version, so it is super different. **

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><p>24 hours ago it was different... 24 hours ago they were all still alive. 24 hours ago I was happy and things were happy, but even 24 hours ago I was still running for my life...<p>

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><p>Cold and drying blood dripped down my scraped up shoulder blade as I ran in any direction that was away from those who were following me. I could hear the high heels of the pursuing grey-woman splashing in the dirty water of the alley-way's puddles as she ran after me, getting closer and closer but always staying just out of reach.<p>

"GET BACK HERE!" Her accented voice was like knives, stabbing my ears as she yelled.

I ran faster now, clutching my shoulder and looking around for some place to hide. There was a seemingly abandoned diner just up ahead, its old sign twitching as the broken light-bulbs shimmered and flickered like a homing beacon. I remembered going there when I was little, but I was going to have to hold off on the happy memories for a moment because right now, if I stopped running... I was going to probably die...

Breathing was quickly becoming painful, but that didn't stop me from laughing out softly in relief when I saw that the backdoor to the diner was opened, so I dove in with the last of my strength and quickly hid beneath a nearby table just as the heels skidded to a halt and entered the backdoor but only halfway. The woman took in a few of her own deep breaths and then she suddenly stopped.

"I know you're in here Zak... Show yourself!" Her voice shouted, both pitches sounding like two warning shots being fired into the air.

I covered my mouth as my heart raced, attempting to quiet my ragged breathing for just a few more seconds. The female turned in a circle a few times and walked further into the room, then turned on her heels and left suddenly. At that moment, her wrist communicator crackled to life, and I heard a voice speak just before she left.

"Nora, report." An unfamiliar voice sounded.

"Hes not here, but hes injured so he couldn't have gotten far." She answered bluntly, sounding almost annoyed. "He was last seen on 67th street."

"What about the rest of them?" The same voice asked.

"All dead the last I checked. Kur was the only survivor, which doesn't surprise me." Nora reported, and frowned a bit when the other voice scoffed.

"With a little self control-." He started but was cut off.

"Oh give it a rest." Nora mumbled shutting off her com and walked out the door.

When I finally thought it was safe, I slowly slipped out from under the table and bolted towards the door and in the opposite direction from Nora. She was right... I was injured and while not badly, I still couldn't get very far without stumbling or stopping to hack up a lung (metaphor). Which didn't take long, as I unwillingly fell just a few paces away from where I had started and felt to tired to get back up, curling into a small ball near the brick wall of the diner and closing my eyes and tried to rest just a little bit... But I kept having the same dream over and over again

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><p><em>"GET OUT OF HERE ZAK!" His mother screamed pushing her son away from the fall debris of their house.<em>

_A shard of broken glass was stabbed in the boy's arm. He turned his head quickly and saw his brother pinned under a top-sided couch and his parents assisting him. That was the last time they were all together. And the last time he saw them alive. And it was all his fault..._

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><p><strong><em>Regular POV:<em>**

It wasn't until around 9:15 that night that Zak was awoken out of his already uneasy sleep by the sounds of someone running. He couldn't tell who it was, but he wasn't going to take any chances with it being one of them. Jumping to his feet shakily, he looked quickly over his shoulder, but didn't need to look twice to see who it was. He turned quickly and then bolted down the street.

"Hey!" A voice shouted after him, sounding a bit strained.

Zak didn't bother to turn around again, and he just kept running. Where to? He had no idea just yet. Just as long as he was away from those guys and out of harms way. The footsteps behind him stopped falling suddenly, and the sounds of something whizzing through the air almost made Zak stop. He soon did though, when he suddenly dropped to his knees and felt something sharp and cold poking the back of his leg.

"Of course... A tranquil dart." Zak sighed, feeling his head fill with a forced sleep as smoke seemingly began to fog his vision to the point of him having to close them.

With his strength fading again quickly, the dark haired boy slumped down, lifting his head only once when he felt someone standing beside him. The last thing (or person, but then again, was a clone really a person?) he saw was of course, Francis, who was now standing over him. Of course, Zak knew that this woul probably happen already, and he looked up at the boy, expecting to see a smug grin on the young greyman, only to find that he actually looked worried before things went dark.

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><p>It was about three hours after the encounter that Zak once again was awoken, but this time it was by a sudden pain in his right shoulder, where his skin had been pierced. It was a sharp pain, but still slightly dulled by his groggy state... And then the poking began and he was quick to shake any amount of sleep he had left away.<p>

"What the!" He shouted, opening his eyes fully and looking around.

He wasn't in a lab or some other horror/sci-fi setting like he had expect, but rather he was in a small bedroom with stark white walls and what looked to be a dark blue shag rug on the floor. The bed he was on was the same color as the walls, but it was comfortable to say the least, other than the pain in his arm that he had nearly forgotten about in the seconds it took him to look around.

"Just give me two seconds. I'm almost done." He heard an all to familiar voice mumble.

Zak turned his head quickly to the right and saw several stitches in his shoulder, and most of it was wrapped up except for a little bit, which Francis was now wrapping in white gauze. Matching stitches were there also an- Wait a second!

"Wait! What! Why am I here! Whose room is this, and why are you helping me?" Zak shouted out random questions about the situation at hand, watching still as the other worked.

"You were injured, my room, and because I'm not that heartless." Francis answered calmly. finally letting Zak have his arm back.

Zak rolled his eyes at those responses, and he got off the bed quickly and headed for the door. He was so unsure about this situation and everything else, that he wasn't really thinking clearly as he placed his hand on the handle, intent on opening the door... Only to be blocked by Francis.

"Where are you going?" He asked, folding his arms over his chest and raising an eyebrow.

"Anywhere but here." Zak answered, trying to push the smaller boy aside and reached for the door knob again.

"You're in the middle of my people's base and they'll probably kill you if they see your here." Francis pointed out, placing his hand on the door and shutting it.

"Then why did you bring me here!?" Zak couldn't help but yelp, under to much stress to really handle the situation in a mature way.

"I panicked OK! You weren't breathing properly and-" Francis sighed, stepping away from the door and dropping his arms at his sides.

Zak's expression changed from anger, to confusion, to shock, and then sympathy. With the emotional stress taking a toll of him, he let his arms drop to his sides as well and then bowed his head lowly.

"Thanks..." He mumbled, suddenly feeling a heavy weight in his chest and stepping away from the door and sitting down on the carpet. "But you should have left me for dead."

"And why is that?" Francis asked sitting next to Zak.

"At least I would've been with my family." Zak answered dully burying his face in his knees and taking a deep breath. "And I wouldn't be living this nightmare..."

"Yeah... About that..." The greyman started then stopped and started rubbing the back of his head in a nervous tick.

"What?" Zak asked, frowning and making a fist. "Tell me!"

"Well, my people searched the house for you and there were no bodies found in the wreck... But we just assumed..." Francis said quickly, standing up and backing away from a dumbstruck Zak.

"So they may still be alive?" Zak asked, almost in a daze.

"Its possible. But not likely." Francis answered, nodding his head.

Zak scoffed and looked back at the floor and sighed. His whole world was being flipped upside down and right side up all at once as his brain attempted to process the greyman's words and the events before the accident.

"And whys that?" Zak asked mocking Francis from earlier.

"Well, with their lack of self control, which is what may have killed them... Surviving doesn't really seem possible."

Zak jumped to his feet and bit down hard on his tongue. An awkward tension passed between the two until Zak finally broke it by pinning the greyman to the wall by the shoulder and punching him in the face quickly to release his quickly building anger. Half of him felt bad for it, but the other half felt that it was a right and justly thing to do, and based off of the other's reaction, he seemed to think the same thing.

"Your kind attacked us! If self control played a role in this then it was on their end and not ours!" Zak shouted, letting the boy go and watched him slip to the floor.

Zak panted softly now as his anger soon subsided, and he quickly walked across the room and sat on the bed, staring up at the ceiling and closeing his eyes. It may have been his inner-kur, but he knew what he was feeling right now wasn't him. Not that he would let the other know that and risk getting another self control lecture.

"Sorry..." Zak opened his eyes and saw Francis still sitting on the floor with a light purple bruise on the side of his jaw.

"I'm sorry too." Zak mumbled, closing his eyes again and after a long period of silence opened them again and got off the bed and headed for the door.

"Where are you off to now?" Francis asked, not leaving his place on the floor.

"I have to find them, even if they are dead at least I could say my good byes." Zak sighed going to open the door.

"I'm coming with you." Francis said, getting off of the floor and placing a hand on Zak's shoulder. "Lets face it, in your condition you're road kill."

Zak bowed his head once again suddenly, lifting his own hand and putting it over the other's hand before letting out a soft chuckle at the comment, following by a wild round of laughs. For the first time ever, the two boys laughed until they were both blue in the face. (Or rather an awkward shade of whatever color it was their skin would turn). Finally, they settled down, and a neutral tension soon settled over them both in a comfortable way.

"Fine, we'll leave tomorrow, after your 'people' start their search again... If they do."

The two nodded and were didn't say another word for the rest if the night.


	2. On The Run

**_A/N: The Guardian: Chapter 2: On The Run_**

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><p><em>They had to be alive... <em>_He just couldn't picture a world with out them..._

_What would he do if the Greymen were right, and they were dead?_

_Just keep running, never looking back and always ahead? _

_Yeah... That would be what he would do. He would just have to keep running, and maybe try to make a new life for himself... If that could even be an option for him anymore..._

**_Or..._**

**_Just keep running until he finally gives up and dies in a heap somewhere far away from home._**

**_Yeah, thats exactly what he'll do... __And who better to die at the hands of then as the same people who killed his family?_**

**_Wait... This wasn't how he would think! He wouldn't think like this!_**

**_But...__Why not just save them the trouble and turn himself in? What hope did a 12 year old have?_**

**_He may have kur powers, but he would never amount to what the creature had once been. He was a failure as a kur, and everyone around him seemed to know it. He deserved to be buried in the legend, and six feet under for that matter-_**

**_OK, so New plan. __No more running. Just give up and die..._**

_But then again... if they are alive..._

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><p>"Hey, wake up... They left, we can go now." For once, Zak didn't mind the sound of the grey-teen's voice as it cut through the still air of the bedroom.<p>

It had pulled him away from his dream of doubt after all and back into the world of the living and reality. It was an unhappy reality, but it was still better than being trapped in his own mind with those thoughts still at war with one another. With a soft grunt, Zak untangled himself from the grey sheets that had gotten wrapped around his person and looked up at the other, who looked rather awake for someone who just spent the night on the floor while Zak took his bed.

"I'm up." Zak muttered with a shake of the head as he sat up a little and stretched out his tired and sore limbs. "OK, we can go now... Just lead the way."

The teen nodded and went to the door, slowly twisting the knob to his bedroom door and gently pushing it open and slipping out of the small crack that he had made, despite not really needing to sneak around now that his people were gone. Watching him, Zak soon got up and followed after him, his heart pounding in his chest as he thought of what could possibly lay ahead for him...

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><p>Being in a Greymen's jet, Zak soon found, was a lot like being in a Doctor's office. Sorta cold, very bland looking and just makes you feel on edge like something was about to come out of no where and kill you. This made the dark skinned teen a bit tense as he dug his nails into the back seat of the two person air craft and took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself a little. Nope, it was a lot worse then being in a Doctor's office. Much worse, with only one thing that made it so much worse. Neither of the boys spoken for a while and the silence was getting to both of them. They both inhaled sharply and both were about to say something only it was Francis who beat Zak to the first word.<p>

"So..." Silence followed.

"What do you plan to do if your family is... You know..." He practically whispered that last part.

"What else is there to do but turn myself in..." Zak answered sighing, feeling that same weight in his chest from before.

The Grey teen didn't respond and instead pretended to be focusing on his piloting, though it didn't take a keen eye to notice how his hands shook every so often. With a deep sigh, Zak looked out the window and attempted to focus on the clouds around them, but soon found that he couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Its better then running my entire life." Zak said at last, clearing his throat softly before adding. "From something that was entirely my fault."

Neither boy spoke for a while after this. There was really nothing for them to say after a comment like that. Well, except for one thing that is.

"It wasn't your fault Zak." Francis mumbled, his hands once again trembling in their places.

"How? I'm Kur! The reason why your people were after me in the first place! The reason why they attacked us, and the reason why my family may be dead! How isn't it my fault? WELL, ANSWER ME THAT!" Zak shouted trying to fight back a few tears.

The other cringed, his grip tightening on the controls of his jet as he drew in his bottom lip and bit down on it in a gesture that Zak saw in the windshield's reflection. It was an awkward thing to see, someone who was usually so composed now resorting to a nervous tick in order to avoid giving an answer, though it wasn't any more awkward than the sounds of Zak's quick breathing in the almost quiet and small space.

"WELL!" He shouted when the boy didn't answer.

"You never asked for any of this to happen." Francis answered, shaking his head.

Zak fell back into his seat, buried his face in his hands and felt his whole being shake. He felt so many things right now, but mainly he felt scared. None of this right, and he felt so besides himself, having no control over anything anymore. Not even his own emotions. With a sharp intake of breath, he felt droplets run down his cheeks as he cried and was soon full out sobbing, not really caring who saw.

"We'll find them Zak... I promise." Francis reassured him, not sure really how to handle the situation.

"They're more than likely dead." Zak said coldly, looking up quickly.

"W-well what do you want me to say then!?" The other shot back at him, his voice cracking awkwardly as he spoke.

He was surprised when he saw that the other only had one hand on the controls now, with the other holding his goggles. Looking up at the other's face, he was even more surprised when he and Francis wiping a tear away from his own red eyes, clearly just as uncomfortable with things as Zak was, which Zak soon realized was very understandable.

"We never found any bodies. Remember that." Francis reminded him, replacing his goggles back over his eyes and placing his hand back on the control.

"Thats true..." Zak whispered wiping his face and smiling a bit. "I don't know though... If that is the case- I guess I'll just carry on with work as usual... That is as much as I can do without your kind interfering..."

Even that light shift of atmosphere seemed to leave behind a much more comfortable silence as the ship headed towards it first destination. The place where Zak had last seen his family. Their old home.


End file.
